diff --git a/ansible/roles/cheaha.node/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/cheaha.node/tasks/main.yml
index a2a48ddabf393600e0b09c3e3d35e5a33ccc41cf..4c36a5532bdbb4ee84164f03a846d5a7c89efb0d 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/cheaha.node/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/cheaha.node/tasks/main.yml
@@ -64,6 +64,16 @@
     - group
     - netgroup
     - automount 
+- name: Create base directories
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    path: "{{ item.dir }}"
+    state: directory
+    mode: "{{ item.mode }}"
+  loop:
+    - { dir: /local, mode: '0777' }
+    - { dir: /scratch, mode: '0755' }
+    - { dir: /share, mode: '0755' }
+    - { dir: /data/rc/apps, mode: '0755' } # this is only required for the symlink to be happy
 - name: Set up NFS GPFS mount point(s)
   ansible.posix.mount:
     path: "{{ item.path }}"
@@ -77,6 +87,17 @@
     - { path: /data/project, src: "gpfs.rc.uab.edu:/data/project", fstype: nfs, opts: _netdev,defaults }
     - { path: /data/user, src: "gpfs.rc.uab.edu:/data/user", fstype: nfs, opts: _netdev,defaults }
     - { path: /data/rc/apps, src: "gpfs.rc.uab.edu:/data/rc/apps", fstype: nfs, opts: _netdev,defaults }
+- name: Create symbolic links
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    src: "{{ item.src }}"
+    dest: "{{ item.dest }}"
+    owner: root
+    group: root
+    force: yes
+    state: link
+  loop:
+    - { src: /local, dest: /scratch/local }
+    - { src: /data/rc/apps, dest: /share/apps }
 - name: Add ssh key for root access
   ansible.posix.authorized_key:
     user: root
@@ -115,24 +136,3 @@
     - munge
     - slurmd
     - nslcd
-- name: Create base directories
-  ansible.builtin.file:
-    path: "{{ item.dir }}"
-    state: directory
-    mode: "{{ item.mode }}"
-  loop:
-    - { dir: /local, mode: '0777' }
-    - { dir: /scratch, mode: '0755' }
-    - { dir: /share, mode: '0755' }
-    - { dir: /data/rc/apps, mode: '0755' } # this is only required for the symlink to be happy
-- name: Create symbolic links
-  ansible.builtin.file:
-    src: "{{ item.src }}"
-    dest: "{{ item.dest }}"
-    owner: root
-    group: root
-    force: yes
-    state: link
-  loop:
-    - { src: /local, dest: /scratch/local }
-    - { src: /share/apps, dest: /data/rc/apps }